Ian Livingston, BT’s chief executive, adds that interest in BT Sport has been strong, with half a million customers having pre-ordered the subscription channels: “It is early days but we are very pleased that more than 500,000 households have now ordered BT Sport.

“As expected, most of these are existing customers who have re-contracted their broadband service. We expect the proportion of new customers to increase after we launch the channels on 1 August.”

While the current chief executive mentions that most of these subscribers are existing customers, his statement doesn’t shed light on how many of these customers take BT TV or Sky TV. Sky subscribers can get BT Sport for free if they take out a BT Broadband contract or can pay from £12/month if they want to sign up with a different broadband provider. Read our How can I watch BT Sport? guide for more details.

BT spokespeople we approached for comment wouldn’t break down the 500,000 figure any further.